"Music is the new pornography" - Jimmy Swaggart

I've been looking forward to today for a few months now. It's the day the fourth New Pornographers album, Challengers, is released.

For those not in the know, the New Pornographers are the Canadian power pop collective (don't call them a supergroup) led by A.C. Newman, with other relatively big names passing through. The biggest is Neko Case, but I think drummer Kurt Dahle is their secret weapon.

One of the remarkable things about the band is that their previous three albums have each featured one of the greatest songs of the decade. Hyperbole? I don't think so, but judge for yourself.

Mass Romantic, released in 2000, had "Letter from an Occupant" on it.



2003's Electric Version had "The Laws Have Changed," which has a video inspired by Bunuel's 1965 film Simon of the Desert. (But hey, who doesn't?)



Finally, here's "Use It" from 2005's Twin Cinema. Featuring a David Cross cameo and the line "Two sips from the cup of human kindness and I'm shit-faced," which I nominate as the best lyric of the decade.



That's Challengers, folks, now at a music site near you.